More and more bands are adopting the option of giving music online for free, following the example that Radiohead set in the fall of 2007.

Nine Inch Nails has released on the Internet its new album “Ghosts I-V,” after becoming a free agent last October. The album was launched on March 2 at the band’s website www.nin.com, where fans could receive the first nine songs from the 36-track project for free, or could pay $5 to buy the entire digital album. For $10 fans could also get a double CD, while for $75, one could get a deluxe package that provided a Blu-ray disc high-quality version and all the songs in multitrack format so that they can be remixed as the buyer pleases.

The album’s release had as consequence around 800,000 transactions in the first week, reaching the total sum of $1.6 million in revenue.

Nine Inch Nails also launched the “Ghosts Film Festival” that encourages people around the world to create videos for any of the songs on the album “Ghosts” and post them online.

"Take the music of Ghosts, and marry it up with the visions that you think are appropriate," said Trent Reznor, founder of the band, in the opening announcement.

A selection will be made and the best videos will participate in the festival.

"To expand the idea of the "Ghosts" project, Nine Inch Nails is inviting anyone and everyone to create visuals to accompany the album's music. In a few months, we'll be gathering the entries we feel are particularly exceptional and highlighting them. There are no rules to this - be as creative as you like. Create a music video, or a short film, or something completely abstract. Use only one track from the album, or use multiple tracks," reads the announcement on the festival’s website.

It seems that record companies are in a downfall, while artists discover they can manage their businesses themselves, making an even better job. Nowadays musicians started to rely more and more on the Internet and on their fans, rather than on publicity companies.